


Raising Children (Together)

by Krasimer



Series: Breaking Down Barriers (Being With You) [2]
Category: LazyTown
Genre: Dad Robbie Rotten, Dad Sportacus (LazyTown), Depressed Robbie Rotten, Elf Sportacus (LazyTown), Fae & Fairies, Fae Robbie Rotten, Lazytown is a fae nest, M/M, Magic Robbie Rotten, Non-Human Robbie Rotten, Pre-Robbie Rotten/Sportacus, Supportive Sportacus (LazyTown)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-30 23:58:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15762390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: This was a fae nest.It had been a little difficult coming to terms with that, but he thought he was doing pretty well with the whole thing. Robbie was a fae, the children were fae-adopted. The rest of the adults had gone somewhere, had disappeared or left or been gotten rid of by someone, and that someone was not Robbie. The children were being taught, by example, how to function as fae.(Robbie is Sunshine and Sportacus just wants to bask.)





	Raising Children (Together)

Sportacus watched as Robbie moved around the children in a disguise, a smile on his face as he realized that the fae was teaching them by example.

This was a fae nest.

It had been a little difficult coming to terms with that, but he thought he was doing pretty well with the whole thing. Robbie was a fae, the children were fae-adopted. The rest of the adults had gone somewhere, had disappeared or left or been gotten rid of by someone, and that someone was not Robbie. The children were being taught, by example, how to function as fae.

Robbie was teaching them, in his own way, how to disguise themselves and dress to a part.

The gentle lessons were like watching a lion play with her cubs – pretending to be caught, trapped and hunted by the babies so that they would learn how to do so properly. There was an edge of danger to anyone who would interrupt, Sportacus realized, but they were happy to be around each other.

His smile grew as he continued to watch over them.

He still didn’t know what had happened to the town – Robbie had still refused to tell him – but he hadn’t been lying when he’d spoken to the fae. Being a parent on your own was an awfully hard thing to do, especially with five children. They were a rambunctious lot, something Sportacus admired in children, and Robbie was so often exhausted. That probably had to do with how often the fae cast glamours and safety-spells on things, keeping his children out of harm’s way.

How many spells had Robbie had to cast to make the children feel safe in their homes, after whatever it was that had happened?

Children tended towards nightmares if their schedules suddenly changed. If parents suddenly weren’t coming home, they would be in the middle of crying fits and panics and Robbie would have been one of the three adults left in the town.

The Mayor and Miss Busybody were unlikely to have been much help.

They had certainly gotten better in the time that Sportacus had known them, seeming more awake and aware and alive, but that had been a lengthy process. There was a tiredness to their actions, a confusion and haziness that seemed to have overtaken all else. Whatever had happened, Sportacus was willing to bet it had to do with that.

If asked, he would have to guess that it was a sleeping spell that had gotten rid of the others. Or possibly something infecting the adults, maybe whatever other children had once been in the town.

Whatever had happened, Robbie was now in charge of their education and their well-being. No small wonder, then, that he had panicked when Sportacus arrived and immediately tried to chase him off. He was basically the sole caretaker for a group of four, five with Stephanie. On top of that, he’d had to take care of Bessie and Milford, as well. Add to that the fear that Sportacus had come to take them away, change them all back to human, leaving Robbie alone in a town that was abandoned other than him and those immediately around him—

It made sense, now.

How much Robbie had wanted him gone, how angry he’d been, how defensive he’d been. The children were his, now.

Even Stephanie was his now, considering how her parents had passed away.

Milford had become her legal guardian, the only living member of her family left, and Stephanie had been sent into the fae nest with its singular parental figure in the form of Robbie Rotten. Robbie, Sportacus had gotten to admit, had been immediately fond of the pink-wearing girl. She was smart and sparky, in the fae’s words, and she had a good head on her shoulders.

And Robbie had immediately started caring for her as well as the others.

Ziggy had been all of four years old when the adults had gone from the town, Robbie had told him. Pixel had been nine, Trixie eight, Stingy the same age. Robbie had suddenly been handed parental duties for four children and he’d been a mess at first.

Unsure of what to feed them, unsure of how to care for them, scared that he would mess it up.

He’d been given a toddler and three others and he had been so scared of what would happen to them if he didn’t take them, if he hadn’t started caring for them. The night they had talked, Robbie had spent a lot of time crying, words hissed out between sobs. They had been so little but still old enough that the magic might not have taken – what would he have done if it hadn’t?

They had been old enough to remember their parents, for the most part.

Pixel had cried for the longest time, but Trixie had spent the longest looking for her mother. Ziggy had just automatically latched onto Robbie. When he calmed down a bit, Robbie had explained about Stingy. How he’d been the calmest with the differences, how he’d been the one to smile first.

How much healthier and happier he was without his father around.

There were still traces of the man’s treatment of his son, the resource guarding and the claiming ownership of everything he could get his hands on, but Stingy was so much better than he had been. Robbie had fussed over him the most, at the beginning.

Their nicknames had been derived from what they were interested in, what they were happy around and doing.

Like any true fae, Robbie had hidden their names away and given them a common mode of address to keep them safer. True names were dangerous, even for humans. Even for fae-claimed human children who were slowly shifting to fae themselves. He seemed to have settled on, ‘Pinky’ for Stephanie. The girl did love the color and as names went, it was a decent one.

Sportacus smiled as Robbie’s hat was somehow pulled free, exposing his true identity and the children called him on it. With an overexaggerated shriek and wide-eyed expression, Robbie turned tail and ran for his bunker, disappearing within seconds.

Teach the children to hide themselves if necessary, and to run if something exposed them when they still needed to be hiding.

As lessons and teaching methods went, it was a good one.

He was actually proud of the fae for having figured out how to be a parent to so many children. Fae were used to having sudden and unexpected children sometimes – that was just how the Fair Folk were. Abducted children were less common in the modern age and it was more common to have a child who got lost in some way, on purpose or by accident. Children who were suddenly without parents or a family would often find themselves in the care of a fae of some kind.

But to unexpectedly be handed four?

That was an enormous task that even the most seasoned of fae would struggle with. Along with caring for two adults and dealing with an empty town, it would be impossible for the average fae. Robbie had spent two years alone with the duties he’d been handed.

And then he’d been given a fifth child to care for and Sportacus had arrived at the behest of that child, who’d just wanted someone to play with and be as active as she was.

So no, Sportacus was never going to take Robbie’s children from him. The other heroes might have something to say about that, but they would remain silent on the matter when he presented them with the facts of it. The children were too far changed to return to humanity and besides that, they had no families to return to.

“I can practically hear you thinking from the bunker, Sportaflip,” Robbie’s voice was quiet in his ear. “What’s got you distracted?”

“You make a wonderful parent,” Sportacus turned to the fae and gave him a bright smile. “You are really very good with the children.” His smile grew even bigger when Robbie’s cheeks flushed. “And they really do enjoy the games you play with them – they talk about them for weeks, Robbie.”

And then there was that.

Elves were fae as well, though not in the same way as the Seelie or the Unseelie. They were not always one or the other, ending up in whatever court they felt suited them more. There were instincts within them that aligned with fae instincts, in a way.

Sportacus’s instincts were urging him to lay claim to the fae that had gathered up children and taken care of them when things had gone wrong. The red of Robbie’s cheeks made him feel like purring, like pulling the tall fae close and pressing kisses to his face and lips. This was Robbie’s town, Robbie’s children, the fae nest belonged to Robbie and he was the one in charge.

But Sportacus wanted to put a claim to the fae himself.

Robbie was a Seelie, full of the brightness of summer and the days they played through reflected that. Almost always summer, almost always sunny and bright. The sort of eternal summer that every child wished for, dreading the return of the school year.

And Sportacus felt like Robbie had poured that sunshine into his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> I know I thought that the little blip about this was going to be it for this story, but have some more. Fae nest Robbie and Sportacus! Being dads together! Yay!
> 
> Also, this is probably a weird place for this, but: RIP Stefan Karl. You helped bring a character to life, one that I could see myself in. It gave me someone to identify with and not feel so alone. I read Robbie as depressed and anxious and it felt so nice to have someone I could see on screen and in a fandom, being loved the way you and your character were. It gave me hope and it gave me a place to return to when I needed a break from the worst of my problems.
> 
> Thank you so much. I will miss you a hell of a lot.


End file.
